Since the month of May is dedicated to Our Blessed Mother, we have been going out for pilgrimages to her shrines to pray for the Church, the Pope, Bishop Javier Echevarria, our Prelate, and for all our personal intentions. I had the chance to visit a nearby shrine recently, the Chapel of Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal, a 15 to 20-minute walk from our study center. The chapel is part of Asilo de la Milagrosa, a charitable institution run by the Daughters of Charity (DC) of St. Vincent de Paul here in Lahug, Cebu.I must say I am fortunate to find this shrine so near because I am an alumna of a school run by the DCs in Manila, Sta. Isabel College (SIC). Our Lady of the Miraculous Medal has been an important part of my childhood since our big quadrangle at SIC, which has a towering statue of her, is named after this title of Our Lady. I remember playing 'piko' and 'patintero' with my classmates in the quadrangle under her gaze till late afternoon when our parents come to fetch us. I'd like to mention here, too, that last year, in our annual seminar at Latag Study Camp in Batangas, the same title of Our Lady was the one our group reported for our Mariology class. I still keep a copy of our powerpoint presentation, thanks to my group mates Tina A. and Tita O.
When I visited Asilo, I was glad to meet Sr. Teresa, a nun who knows our former music teacher and children's choir moderator at SIC, Sr. Martha who obviously became a DC herself. I was happy to get the contact details of Sr. Martha, or Ms. Gamolo as we used to call her. We are hoping to see each other in my next trip to Manila. 'Ms. Gamolo' was the one who discovered that I have an ear for music, and an aptitude to learn one of the lower voices in our children's choir i.e. the so-called 'alto' or soprano 2. I am grateful to Sr. Martha, one of my mentors who taught me to aspire for the higher and nobler things in life.
It is my wish that there be more people, lay and religious alike, whose 'struggles' to live a life of virtue, pave the way for many people to discover the path God has designed for them to tread in this life, always with the help of Our Lady.